In a manufacturing process for semiconductor devices, it has hitherto been required to apply a bonding material, which is a highly viscous fluid, onto a substrate, etc. in units of a predetermined amount. The bonding material is applied by, e.g., a bonding material applying apparatus (dispenser) in such a manner that the bonding material is pushed out to an applying head and is discharged in units of the predetermined amount.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1-307470 discloses a viscous fluid applying apparatus in which a viscous fluid in a tank is discharged from a discharge nozzle in a predetermined amount by supplying compressed air, and is applied to a plate material, etc. In the viscous fluid applying apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1-307470, the viscous fluid is wastefully discharged in a wastefully discharging station until the amount of the discharged viscous fluid is stabilized, and an actual application is started after the amount of the discharged viscous fluid has been stabilized.
As described above, in the viscous fluid applying apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1-307470, it is required to wastefully discharge the viscous fluid until the discharge amount is stabilized. This raises the following problems. The viscous fluid (bonding material) is wasted. Furthermore, in the case of the wasteful discharging station being separately provided, when the viscous fluid is not applied for a certain time, the discharge nozzle is moved to the wasteful discharging station where the viscous fluid is wastefully discharged. Thereafter, the discharge nozzle is returned to a position where the viscous fluid is to be applied, and the viscous fluid is actually applied there. Thus, an applying operation is complicated.